" The process was draining the stock of gold
in the Treasury and forcing the country to a silver basis without
really increasing the amount of money in actual circulation or
removing any of the difficulties in the way of obtaining supplies
of currency for business transactions. President Cleveland
recommended the repeal of the Silver Coinage Act, but he had no
plan to offer by which the genuine complaints of the people
against the existing monetary system could be removed. Free
silver thus was allowed to stand before the people as the only
practical proposal for their relief, and upon this issue a
conflict soon began between Congress and the Administration.
At a convention of the American Bankers' Association in
September, 1885, a New York bank president described the methods
by which the Treasury Department was restricting the operation of
the Silver Coinage Act so as to avoid a displacement of the gold
standard. On February 3, 1886, Chairman Bland of the House
committee on coinage reported a resolution reciting statements
made in that address, and calling upon the Secretary of the
Treasury for a detailed account of his administration of the
Silver Coinage Act. Secretary Manning's reply was a long and
weighty argument against continuing the coinage of silver. He
contended that there was no hope of maintaining a fixed ratio
between gold and silver except by international concert of
action, but "the step is one which no European nation.
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